Going out and exploring the city is a big part of the provision for children attending Abercromby Nursery School, which is located in the heart of Liverpool city centre. They are surrounded by historic buildings and cultural heritage, including Liverpool Cathedral – the largest religious building in Britain – which they visited recently.
‘We love visiting new places and it's such a good way of increasing children's cultural capital,’ says Tamara Bennett, head teacher. ‘We can't afford a minibus, but we try to walk out as much as possible and introduce our children to this amazing city that we live in.’
The nursery school is diverse both culturally – with about 65 per cent of children with English as an additional language – and socially and economically. Refugees and asylum seekers attend the setting, along with children whose parents work in various departments at the local hospital and university. ‘We celebrate everybody's faiths, cultures and backgrounds, whether they’re religious or not religious,’ Tamara says. Practising Christians attend the nursery, so elements of the faith have been discussed with the children. The oldest Chinatown in Europe is just 10 minutes walk from the nursery, which they visit for Lunar New Year, and they also mark Eid and Ramadan, among other celebrations.
‘Our Muslim families did not have a problem with us visiting the cathedral, in fact some Muslim parents came on the trip with us and were excited to see inside,’ says Tamara. ‘It was commented that they wouldn't feel comfortable going in for a visit by themselves.’ There are also plans for children to visit a local mosque.
MAGIC ARCH
‘Liverpool Cathedral is the most amazing space, it's enormous,’ says Tamara. ‘Children were staggered by the size of it when they walked in. There was a look of absolute awe and wonder on their faces.’
The children were also intrigued by creating echoes which bounced around the stone interior. ‘The fact that they could explore the sound of their voices inside this massive space was just so exciting,’ Tamara says. They were also fascinated by a stone archway that is a perfect hemisphere, which creates a ‘whispering arch’. ‘The children found that if they stood either side of the arch and whispered then they could clearly hear it at the other side,’ Tamara explains. ‘The children thought it was like magic.’
At one end of the cathedral is a pair of huge doors that are only opened for a monarch or bishop. ‘The children were impressed by the sheer scale of the doors and wanted to open them, so it was explained that it doesn't happen very often,’ says Tamara. ‘Recently the Bishop of Liverpool, Paul Baynes, retired so the children learned that they had been opened for him.’
FANTASTIC FACES
Liverpool Cathedral has an education team that has devised two tours for early years children, one focusing on shapes and the other on fantastic faces, which they chose to follow. ‘It was a clever hook for the children because they walked around looking at different faces in the stained-glass windows, statues and carvings,’ explains Tamara. ‘Children split into three small groups and explored every nook and cranny while looking for fantastic faces. We found wolves and monkeys and different people. I think the animals probably caught their attention more, although they did love the statue of Mary and baby Jesus. Children recalled the Christmas story and we had also covered the Easter story with them in a sensitive way so they also recognised Jesus on the cross.
‘There were lots of “lighter” things for them to see as well – lots of eagles and a liver bird. I’ve been to the cathedral a lot but hadn't noticed many of the intricate carvings myself; for example, one elaborately decorated doorway has carved chameleons and snails, which the children looked at carefully and enjoyed touching.’
The cathedral has a mouse character named after the 16th Earl of Derby, Fredrick Arthur Stanley, whose tomb is in the cathedral. Children studied his intricate tomb and noted the carving of a baby and an eagle. Also, when they looked really carefully, they were fascinated to see a small bronze mouse tucked behind a tassel.
SNAILS IN CLAY
The cathedral education team laid out clay on boards accompanied by a variety of photographs showing lots of the different carvings, pictures and statues in the cathedral. ‘The children were able to look at the photos and then represent what they’d seen in clay, and that was just brilliant,’ says Tamara.
‘We were impressed by their focus and engagement. Some of the children studied the photos in great detail and recalled what they had seen. Even the youngest children managed some fantastic approximations. One had a really good go at the snail we’d seen because we’d learned how to make snails with spirals in clay. Another child created a brilliant wolf he’d seen in one of the doors, while others loved using the clay to make their own fantastic faces.’
Children continue to talk about the different animals they saw at the cathedral, and some have returned to visit with their families. Along with learning how to behave on a school trip and the importance of being responsible and listening, Tamara believes the children benefited from seeing inside a building that is outside many of the children's norm.
‘Obviously they are very young, but they are beginning to understand that some places are special for people and have religious significance,’ she says. ‘They now know that a cathedral is where Christians go to pray, and some of them related that to Eid. They were able to compare and contrast it with their experiences of getting dressed up and going to the mosque. The children showed lots of empathy and, as well as emphasising the differences, they acknowledged the special things that are the same, that are important to us and that we respect – we may be Muslims or we may be Christians, but we both have special places to pray.’
BOOK CORNER
Discovering Places of Worship by Izzi Howell
Introduce children to the six main religions of the world and the buildings where people worship.
Our Places of Worship series by Honor Head
Includes a look at the buildings used by the different religions and their and festivals.
See Inside World Religions by Alex Frith and Barry Ablett
A lift-the-flap look at the beliefs, history and customs of the major religions.
What's Inside a Mosque? Places of worship by Baby Professor
Look inside a mosque and find out more about followers of Islam.
Welcome to Our World: A celebration of children everywhere! By Moira Butterfield and Harriet Lynas
In this beautifully illustrated book, young children can learn all about what people in other countries eat, wear and play, and how they speak and celebrate.
My Very First Bible Stories by DK
From Noah's Ark and Jonah and the Whale to the story of Moses and the birth of Jesus, this board book contains 12 popular Bible stories.
Cool Architecture by Simon Armstrong
Packed with absorbing facts and quirky illustrations, this book explores architecture from the simple dwellings to innovative buildings.